So, here we are, more than halfway through 2025, and our Round Robin Blog topic for August asks: When did you decide to become an author, and what inspired you?

I don’t believe I ever deliberately chose to become an author; I think it was something I always felt compelled to do. It was ingrained in me but it took a very long time to emerge.

I was an early reader, having mastered the tales of Beatrix Potter and Alison Uttley before ever entering the doors of our local primary school. I still maintain that to be a writer, one also has to be a reader. My early writing was in crayon on a wall, not much appreciated by my mother or grandmother, with whom we lived.

In my schooling, it was nothing for me to score full marks in English grammar, English Literature, creative writing, or essay writing. At one of the schools I attended, my prize-winning essay earned a full fifty points for my house, nothing as exciting as Griffindor or Slytherin, but along those lines. My friends and family were regaled with tales of derring-do, and at the ages of twelve and thirteen, I began to write them down. The fact that my parents found them hilarious was enough to discourage me, which it did for many, many years.

I admire those who have the confidence to go ahead regardless. What I couldn’t do for myself, I did for my daughter, and I wrote a book for her thirteenth birthday. It took me much longer than I expected, and she received that book on her fourteenth birthday. My lack of self-confidence was further shaken when my father commented, “You haven’t been to university, so what made you think you could write a book?” Today, I am sure he did not mean it in the way I took it.

What I saw as a possible career, others saw as something of a joke, referring to it as Vicki’s little hobby. Although I was not actively writing, I was at least close to books, as I worked at an independent bookstore. My bosses, a husband-and-wife team, were interested in my ambitions and very supportive of them. The book I wrote for my daughter, If Wishes Were Horses, eventually did the rounds of four children's book publishers, receiving good reviews but no requests for submission. Somewhere in my move from the UK to Canada, those four favourable and complimentary replies went astray, as did the book itself.

Enter my Canadian husband, who had only two stipulations when I became a best-selling author. First, he wanted a red Ferrari; second, a young, blonde, and beautiful chauffeur. I agreed to the Ferrari but declined the chauffeur purely due to insurance costs. It was not just his encouragement, but his belief in my ability to write something worthwhile, that finally motivated me. He more than anyone set me on my path, initially by signing me up for a short story writing course with a local writers' group, and later by entering me for a short story competition run by a local newspaper.

As to what I would like to write, that was easy. Amongst so many books, I had been thrilled by the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer, and so I set out to write in that genre. I have now written six Regency romances, five additional historical novels, and three contemporary western romances. Small potatoes for sure, but as my first book was not published until 2013 in time for my seventieth birthday, I don’t consider that too bad for such a late starter.

Sadly, my dear departed husband did not survive to share in the success for which he paved the way. I might not have become a best-selling author by New York Times standards, although I can claim that because a short story of mine was included in an anthology, which did make it, albeit briefly, but I did buy the red Ferrari. Don’t get excited, folks. It was $1.99 in a gift shop, but I bought it in his memory, and it sits on a bookshelf close to my desk.

As families often are, mine was not overly concerned with my writing. My daughter said she would never read any of my current novels. My eldest son has read them all, and my youngest son most of them. I’m sure that now, if my parents were alive, they would finally admit that perhaps I had some level of writing competence after all.

If I didn’t write, I’m unsure what I would do with myself these days. The ideas for stories still come as quickly as they ever did, but I don’t type as fast as I used to, so it takes me longer to produce a book. However, my first cozy mystery, A Murder in the Meadow, is already available in print and as a pre-release ebook on Amazon. There are two more books in this series, Book 2 due in January, 2026 and Book 3 in September, 2026. And after that, who knows? I have outlines for two womens’ fiction novels, more contemporary romances, maybe even more cozy mysteries.

Whether they ever get written is beside the point. The writing world is my oyster. Let’s hop over and visit my fellow bloggers and find out what pearls they have to offer.

 

Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

Bob Rich  https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3xy

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

 

Favourite Characters from Fiction

 

I’ve been MIA for the past few months as I finished my first cosy murder mystery. Having previously written historical and contemporary romance with a touch of intrigue, it took me quite some time and a lot of reading to get the hang of this new-to-me genre. I will review it over the weekend to catch any last-minute typos or inaccuracies, and I will send it to my publisher on Monday.

During a little break from writing, it will be my absolute delight to sit and read, so this month’s Round Robin topic of what was/is your all-time favourite character(s) in literature and why, gives me time to look back on some of the great books I’ve read.

I have no idea of reading standards these days. I know I’m giving my age away (I don’t care, I’ll be eighty-two in September), but I could read before I went to school and by the age of ten, I was reading the English classics, such as Lorna Doone, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights, as well as Moby-Dick and Treasure Island. I basically read any book I could get my hands on, and in my early teens, read a lot of Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour, Max Brand and Jack Schaeffer before I discovered Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Mixed in with all of those over the years were Black Beauty, the Flicka stories and the Black Stallion, along with all the Jill pony stories, Call of the Wild, Last of the Mohicans – and I could go on.

Although my reading was extensive and I loved the stories, I must admit that many of the nuances of character, setting, and plot probably went over my head. I revisited many of those titles as an adult and developed a whole new appreciation for them, especially those of Jane Austen. With such a treasure trove of material to pick from, it has been like dipping into a box of chocolates. Which hero or heroine to put at the top of my list?

As far as heroes go, Jack Schaeffer’s Shane (I believe a forerunner of the man with no name in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Dollars’ series) captured my imagination not as an all-American hero, but as a self-reliant man grappling with himself and his past. Going from one extreme to the other, another hero I found intriguing was the Marquis of Alverstoke in Georgette Heyer’s book Frederica. Like so many Regency lords, Alverstoke is portrayed as jaded and bored, but beneath it all, he is a decent man, much like Shane.

For my heroines, well. Here I am spoilt for choice entirely. My first choice is again from Frederica; in

fact, it is the leading lady, Frederica Merrivale herself. Her wit and manners endear her to Society, her sense of humour and common sense to Alverstoke, much to the dismay of his sisters. For my second heroine, it was a hard choice between Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. After much consideration, Elizabeth pipped Scarlett at the post, not least because Elizabeth came completely alive for me as a feisty, won't-back-down individual when played by Keira Knightley in the movie version, with Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy.

As you can see, I have a varied collection of books in my past and more in my future. My reading these days is often thrillers, particularly those by Dick Francis and Lee Child. I have a sneaking admiration for Lula, a fascinating character in the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. In between all those books, I enjoy the travel books by Bill Bryson and have just started reading A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom.

Please join me now in visiting my fellow Round Robin contributors to see what their picks are.

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

 Dr. Bob Rich  https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3vC

Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

 

 

The Importance of Setting

 This April, our Round Robin blog will switch things up for fictional settings: how do you create your fictional towns or settings, whether in the past, present, or future? 

Shakespeare wrote, ‘Let me count the ways.’ Okay, so he was writing Sonnet #43, but that phrase could just as easily refer to our topic this month as to declaring love. In ‘As You Like It,’ Shakespeare also wrote, ‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.’

While the Bard waxes poetic, we authors are not so different in creating the stage or setting and moving our characters around in that landscape. As much as I love creating characters, I also enjoy creating their settings.

Most of my settings have been straightforward, as they are places I know well or have visited. Many of them have changed little from the original town plans. The Regency social round involved travelling from someone’s home to London, followed by excursions to visit or stay in the spa towns of Brighton, Bath, Cheltenham, Buxton, and Harrogate. While there were others, these are the most easily recognised, particularly Bath, for those who enjoy Regency romance. Being such popular cities, street plans are readily available online. Looking into each city’s archives usually begins at the town hall or planning office, but more often with a public library.  

Royal Crescent - Bath (4) © Mike Searle cc-by-sa/2.0 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

geograph.org.uk

I have been torn between using real-life locations for my contemporary stories and inventing a town because I’m writing fiction. This is where I combine fact and fiction. I take a location I know and fictionalise it. That way, I can still write with a measure of conviction that might otherwise be lacking. Readers invariably sense a weakness, and I do my best to make my fictional settings as real as possible. I mix up English village names if my setting is in England, and I’m sure there are many more fictional ranches set in Southern Alberta than in reality.

The importance of the setting lies in its ability to anchor the reader in time and space, providing a sense of reality to the entire story. As authors, we are responsible for further solidifying that setting by engaging the senses. If it is an indoor setting, such as a house or a building, where is your character located? What can they see, hear, and feel? I often close my eyes and visualise it for myself, typically typing as I move from hallway to stairs, from scullery to dining room. The devil is in the details, so all the details I ‘see’ are typed. What time of day is it, and what part of the year? Where does the light fall, and what shadows does it create? How does that affect the colour palette of the décor? Being specific usually holds a reader’s attention, especially if it appeals to the senses.

For me, another aspect of setting is designing the houses in which my characters live. I need to understand how they move through these spaces and what keeps the upstairs household members separate from those below stairs. Even with my ranch houses, I approach the same considerations. After designing one ranch house, I knew almost every log and stone in its construction, but I could not picture the roofline. I called a local architect’s office, explained my dilemma to the receptionist, and asked if any architects there would assist me. The following day, I received a call from a gentleman intrigued by building a house in a novel. We scheduled an appointment, and when he examined my floor plan, it didn't take him long to add a roof to it. Job done, but our conversation about the intricacies of writing a book continued well beyond the one-hour slot he had allocated me.

I’m happy writing in the past and present, and my imagination doesn’t stretch to the future as I know it does with many of our Round Robin bloggers.  I’m off now to see what they have to say.

 

Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3rJ 

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Belinda Edwards https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

Anne Stenhouse https://goo.gl/h4DtKv

Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooksmark2.blogspot.com

A.J. Dyer http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

 

 

 

 

Writing Romance by Victoria Chatham

 

Our Round Robin blog for Saturday, February 15th, is on the topic of Romance. If you write romance, what do you like (or dislike) about the genre and all other genres? Do you include romance in your stories?

I have always enjoyed reading romance novels, from my first Georgette Heyer Regency romance when I was thirteen to the latest contemporary romance. They were and are pure escapism, which is why I write romance.

Over the years, many people I have met who have learned I am an author have told me they could write a romance as “It’s only a basic formula, after all.” And as one close friend, who should have known better, once said, “Two people meet, fall in love, get married, have two children and a dog. The end.”

She had completely ignored the times she had seen or heard me almost pulling my hair out while trying to determine the nuances of building my characters to make them unique and plausible or deciding what subplot would best create confusion and conflict in their burgeoning relationship.

Romance Writers of America defines romance as ‘two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.’

As with any genre, subplots and conflict are necessary parts of the storytelling process if you want to

keep your reader engaged, but in a romance novel, the love story must be the main focus. Romance novels swing through a whole arc from sweet to super hot and in many subgenres, from historical and contemporary to fantasy, young adult, and paranormal, and at each end of the scale, spiritual to sexy. Whatever the heat level, our romantic couple must risk everything for each other before they get their happy-ever-after or happy-for-now ending.

I enjoy writing romance, especially historical romance, because I love putting my very proper heroines into unexpected and sometimes dangerous situations. They are not simpering sampler stitchers but real live flesh and blood, up and at ‘em in-your-face type gals. As I have often been told, my heroines are far too out of the box for a traditional Regency romance, but those are the kinds of characters I like, so that’s what I write and make no apologies for. The fact that my research into the historical facts for the Regency years (strictly 1811 – 1820) is in-depth and solid enough to create my settings and clothe my characters realistically is rarely, if ever, commented on.

My heroes, the guys who often raise their eyebrows at the shenanigans my gals become embroiled in,

 Vincent Cassel

are, indeed, my heroes. No one is perfect, but my heroes are perfect enough in my eyes to take centre stage and support, thwart, or otherwise involve themselves with my feisty, fearless females. For both leads, I find images on the internet on which to base physical features and build up their character profile. Actor Vincent Cassel, shown here, was the inspiration for Lord Lucius Clifton in The Berkeley Square Series.

Novels set before 1950 are considered historical, and my historical romances have covered the years 1814 to 1818 (Regency) 1907 to 1918 (Edwardian) and 1935, this last being Book #1 in BWL Publishing Inc’s Canadian Historical Brides Collection.

I am currently working on a cozy mystery series, but I have no doubt that I will eventually return to where it all began, particularly as another writer friend challenged me to write a Scottish Regency romance. Hmm. That might mean a return trip to Edinburgh!

Thanks to Skye Taylor for this month's topic, and welcome to our new bloggers, Belinda Edwards and Sally Odgers. 

Bob Rich   https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3pV

A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/

Belinda Edwards https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/

Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/romance.html

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

 

Happy Christmas!

 

Saturday, December 21st, is our gift of fun writing blog post day.

I'm not a winter person, so my family who all live in the UK, is still puzzled as to why I ended up in Canada, where there is so much winter. I have been here long enough to have experienced snow every month of the year.

My preference for Christmas would be for it to snow on Christmas Eve, stay for Christmas Day, and then disappear on Boxing Day. As Alice says in my short story All I Want For Christmas, included in the anthology A Cowboy This Christmas, snow at Christmas is like cake with icing.

It's not that we didn't have snow in the UK. I'm old enough to remember the winter of 1947 and then the flooding the following spring when it thawed. In December 1962, it started snowing on Boxing Day, and we had snow lying around until June 1963. This was one of the coldest winters on record for the UK. 1978-79 was another cold winter. We lived in a 300-year-old country house without central heating or double-glazed windows at the time, so it was COLD. We kept warm with a solid-fuel stove in the family room and an open fireplace in the dining room. Hot water bottles and extra blankets were required for bedtime.

But, despite the cold, the snow did give us some good memories. This is the willow tree in my backyard which looked like a decoration all on its own

and Charlie, one of my dogs, just loved being outside.

That was the year my sons decided a dog team would be a great idea to go to the local store about a mile away. Charlie, Sue, and Tim (those latter two dogs not so keen on the winter weather) were somehow hitched to an old toboggan. To the cries of 'mush, mush,' the dog team sat down, looking bewildered, and then 'mushed' back indoors as soon as they were unhitched.

Whatever the weather is in your part of the world, there is nothing more rewarding than curling up in a cozy chair with a good book. What better than this anthology of short, sweet, contemporary Western romance stories from nine authors? Cowboys and Christmas, what could be better?

My story is entitled All I Want For Christmas. Rancher Luke Evans expects to spend Christmas alone. His brother is a professional musician who is always on the move and hasn't been home for Christmas in years. Their father finally gave in to their mother's longed-for winter cruise and booked it as a Christmas present for her with some additional encouragement from Luke who volunteered to stay at home and look after the ranch.

A snowstorm (of course there's a snowstorm! It's winter in Alberta, Canada) strands Kate Cooper and her five-year-old daughter Alice at the ranch. While the child's smile warms Luke's heart, will widowed emergency nurse Kate dare to love again? Could she and Alice become the family he always wanted?

That's the simple premise, but there is a lot more to this family story. Luke's brother arrives with a new wife on his arm, followed by their parents, who gave up on the cruise because Mom realised a cruise couldn't beat home sweet home.

So, all the ingredients for a happy family Christmas are there. It's the 'sweetest' thing I have ever written, and I had fun writing it. If you'd like to take a look, here's a link:

A Cowboy This Christmas:

https://draft2digital.com/book/1131788

Now, I want to visit my fellow bloggers and see what fare they have served for this month.

 

Helena Fairfax  http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Connie Vines  http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Dr. Bob Rich   https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3nE

Diane Bator  https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/

Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

Careers for Characters

Well, that month went by fast, and here we are in November, considering "the right career for your characters."  So, how do you build a career for your cast list?

In my Regency romances, careers as we understand them did not exist for most of my heroines, but they were trained from a young age to expect to manage a household and raise a family. Today, we consider that a career rather than an expectation. However, my leading ladies all had a streak of independence and wanted more than being lady of the manor.

Emmaline followed in her father’s footsteps and became a spy in the Peninsular Wars. Juliana learnt to sword fight because she didn’t want her brother to have all the fun, and Olivia loved books and knew her way around libraries. One of my Regency belles, Hester, was an herbalist and healer. Charlotte learnt map-making skills from her father and millinery from her mother. Phoebe grew up on a farm and became a competent horsewoman. Tilly, my Brides of Banff Springs heroine, became a chambermaid at the famous Banff Springs Hotel. The heroine of my new cosy mystery series is a sixty-six-year-old retired primary school headmistress.

I don’t recall having to create a career for any of them, as they all evolved organically. Charlotte was the only one who gave me any trouble. As I saw it, the story was that Charlotte would be a lady’s companion in a quiet country home. I thought she might become the vicar’s wife, very genteel and respectable, but Charlotte wanted adventure, so that was what she had, and then some. It took me a while to figure out a connection between spying and map-making, smuggling and millinery, but once I built her backstory, it came together quite quickly.

When we start writing, we are encouraged to write what we know. I knew very little about any skills my heroines needed other than using herbs and horseman(woman)ship. I’ve been around horses since

Those were the days.

I was five years old and became interested in herbalism at age nineteen. My kids used to take one look at my preparations and grumble that ‘Mum’s doing her witchy thing again.’ Spying during the Napoleonic Wars was rife, and the Duke of Wellington was rumoured to have a network of some four thousand spies. I have always liked maps, so it wasn’t too hard to work that theme into Charlotte’s story. The millinery, not so much. I don’t know how many YouTube videos I watched on sword fighting, but that grew to a new level when I attended some fencing classes.

As the author, you can choose any career for your character, but they will tell you what they like and don’t like, what they can and can’t do, and what they might want to learn. Authors may use their own experiences of a career, as John Grisham did with his legal thrillers, or let their imaginations run wild as J.K. Rowling did with Harry Potter. With judicious research, you can build careers for your characters about which you, the author, know nothing or a little. Dick Francis, the author of over forty horse-racing-related thrillers, had many different careers for his characters, from glassmaking to art, horse transport to meteorologist, a barrister to a movie star playing detectives on the big screen.

Once an author has the career background, has done the research, and has begun writing, what emerges is as authentic as possible. However, I hope none of my future characters wants to climb mountains or be a trapeze artist, as I have no head for heights. Now, I will drop in on my fellow bloggers and see their take on the subject.

  

Helena Fairfax  http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Connie Vines  http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Dr. Bob Rich   https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3m7

Diane Bator  https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/

Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

 

 

Indie or Not?

The topic for this month is -  Indie or Not? Some of us have tried both. Some are one or the other. What do you like about being traditionally published? What do you like about being an Indie or a contrast if you've done both?

My first experience of Indie publishing was also my last. However, I have to say that if it had not been for that first foray into the great unknown world of Indie publishing, I might not have been published at all. Few people knew about self-publishing back then, circa 2010. Articles on self-publishing cropped up in trade magazines and nascent online forums, but I honestly believe my writing group was way ahead of the game.

Spearheaded by our president, who said she could write a book with anyone, we created a town, characters, and plot lines. And so the Bandit Creek project began. We could ‘borrow’ anyone’s characters, and each story had to include the mysterious character, Jack. The project covered all genres to accommodate such a diverse group of writers. Our fictitious western town was founded in 1867 after a gold strike and ran through to the present day, so the project covered all genres to accommodate such a diverse group of writers. From historical to sweet romance, paranormal and mystery, we published two books every month, on the first and fifteenth, for twelve months.

My book was due to come out on the March 15th, 2012. I had uploaded it to Amazon Kindle, following their instructions (as I thought), but every time I checked it, the title page was missing, or the formatting had shifted. I was at the end of my limited experience, and it showed. I remember printing out the instructions, ticking off each item as I addressed it, and double-checking before I clicked ‘publish.’ My publication date drew nearer. I had nightmares and sweated buckets, but thanks to another group member helping me with my upload, I did not miss my deadline.

The Bandit Creek project served many of us well, some not so much. Several writers dropped out altogether after the fact. Some, like myself, kept writing. I didn’t want to repeat what, to me, was a stressful process, so I looked for a traditional publisher when my next book, a Regency romance, was completed. My first attempt at signing on with an agent was short-lived. I met her at a writers’ conference, and after my pitch, she invited me to send her the full manuscript, which I did. It came back with a ‘love, love, love your writing’ comment, but she suggested I add a strong sub-plot and re-submit. As encouraging as that was, six months had passed by the time I did that (I am not a fast writer) and resubmitted. In the first instance, she responded two weeks after my submission; the second time, I received a thank you note from her assistant the day following my submission, with a comment that the agent ‘could not connect with my writing.’ Go figure.

I tidied up the manuscript, and after receiving a positive response to a query letter I sent to an editor at Kensington Press in New York, I sent it off again. I received a gushing response from the entry editor, who said that as far as he was concerned, it was publication-ready, and he was sending it ‘upstairs.’ I took that to mean it was going on to a more experienced editor. Then Hurricane Sandy hit, shutting New York City down for weeks.

Now, not being a spring chicken, I was not prepared to wait for months, maybe a year or more, and watch another birthday or two come around before knowing if Kensington Press would say yea or nay, so I found another publisher. After listening to my pitch, she asked if I would send the book to her. I did. Three days later, I was offered publication. Ten days later, the book became available as an Amazon Kindle e-book, and I’ve been with that publisher ever since.

Several of my writer friends are totally self-published. They love working with a cover artist, finding editors, uploading their manuscripts, and being almost fully reimbursed for their efforts. They can check their Kindle account and see how their sales are progressing or where their books are being sold. They like being in the captain’s chair and having total control.

But, speaking for myself, I’m not so adventurous and don’t mind paying a percentage of my sales to have all that work done for me. Had I been younger when I started writing and publishing, I’m not sure what my attitude would have been. Right now, I’m happy to stick with what I know best: the writing. I wonder what my Round Robin colleagues will have to say.

Connie Vines  http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Bob Rich  https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3l0

Diane Bator https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea